Facing History and Ourselves was a course that has changed my perspective in life and the way I see things. I am now more aware of all the major events that had happened in history and that most of it had almost gone unnoticed to the public. I am also now more aware of the many hurtful things we say in our everyday lives. I have learned that you must stop being a bystander and start becoming proactive in situations that are wrong. As a student I have learned that the Nazis had been trying to cover up their tracks by making concentration camps appear fun and safe. However, they are really prosecuting the Jews and mass murdering them. Camps such as Auschwitz are an example of this. Since taking the class, I have become more aware of how people’s feelings can get hurt and through the process it creates hatred toward that person overtime. I began noticing this every day in school and I observed what people say and how they say it. And I could see the relationship between this and how the Germans started beginning to blame the Jews for everything. This later started to transition into hate. Taking this class had impacted me as a person and it caused me to speak out against hurtful things that people say, knowing that by doing this, I could prevent hatred by stopping it in its tracks. I learned that by being a bystander or a contributor you can only make things worse. I also realized that some people may be afraid to stand against the grain. However, once you do, you can at least feel that you did something right.
Hatred can only be learned. I was surprised to see German children so passionate about their hatred for Jews. And it was not because they were born that way. Children are immersed with outside influences that affected them every day. Some influences include, propaganda, Nazi influenced education in schools, and the mass hatred of Jews from the millions of Nazi followers. I feel that we must try not influencing our children; rather we should educate them about history and learn from our mistakes. I noticed how children today are easily influenced. Some examples today are music, television, and media. Children today are trying to change themselves to fit society’s criteria. I feel that children should become more educated and therefore more creative and have their own thoughts and feelings, so that way they won’t care about what other people say. In class, we watched the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This movie had caused me to realize that hatred is learned and starts with the children. When Bruno moved, he and his sister are home schooled, and they are being taught hatred. Their teacher strongly enforces Nazi ideology. I noticed the changes the sister went through as she throws away all her dolls and hangs Nazi posters on her wall.
During Nazi rule, people could not have different thoughts about their belief. Everyone must have the same thoughts. And once some one finds out that you do not have faith in Nazi rule, you were prosecuted. In the film, Swing Kids, there were teenagers just like me, who loved to dance and were passionate about swing music. However, swing music was considered bad because most of its composers were Jewish. Jewish hatred went as far as the music people listened to. I was in awe when I found that people were prosecuted just for listening to music. This was terrible.
During one of our class discussions, we were talking about how people use the “N” word, and how white people also use it on a daily basis in social conversations. I observed and studied both sides of the situation. I noticed how blacks use it often when greeting each other as a form of friendship. However when whites use it they seem to be comfortable with it as they think its okay for them to say it. This is sometimes only because some blacks allow for whites to say the word and thus spreads so that other whites can say it. However there are some blacks who are really sensitive when they hear the word. This seems to be an ongoing problem that, I think, needs to stop. It’s either okay to say it or it is not. There are too many mixed messages of when to use or to not use the word. On the other hand, in response to the “N” word, blacks will use the word “cracker” to retaliate. I just feel that this predicament needs to stop. And the only way for it to stop is if someone speaks out.
During the Pennsylvania State University event that had happened, our class discussed how the issue could have been stopped if the bystanders actually did something. One of the football coaches, Sandusky, had numerous accounts of child molestation. And this could have been stopped many times before it progressed. This was a classic case of bystanders just watching and doing nothing about the situation. This class had opened my eyes to bystanders and how they do nothing to help our society as a whole. Every day in school I see numerous problems and notice that there are bystanders doing nothing about it. And I was surprised at how many bystanders there are. In life there are too many problems to resolve by yourself. That is why we need to educate children everyday so that we can tackle these problems head on. We need to eliminate bystanders and become more proactive in situations. Everyday I see other students bullying each other by saying hurtful and sometimes racist things. Although most of the time it isn’t serious, it will build up over time and thus create hate. This can only be stopped once you speak out and stop being a bystander. I am very grateful to go to a great school with wonderful teachers that educate us to the best of their abilities. We are very fortunate to have teachers that take the extra time and effort to shape our minds and open our eyes.
